Drop bottom mine car



Dec. 10, 1957 R. A. SHIELDS 2,315,731

DROP so'r rouiuma-cm' Y Filed Jul 5', 1951 fisncnwneep 1' Dec. 10, 1957R. A. SHIELDS 2,315,721

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* Filed. July 5. 1951 w s Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 10, 1957 V R. A. l-nsLnsDROP BOTTOM MINE CAR" Fina July 5. 1951 5 Sheets-Shyet 5 J I INVENTORnited States Patent DROP BOTTOM MINE. CAR

Robert A. Shields,'Bloomsbui-g, Pa., assignor to American Car andFoundry Company, New York,'N. Y., a corporation of New JerseyApplication July 5, 1951, Serial No. 235,254

Claims. (Cl. 105- 286) This invention relates to mine cars invgeneraland in particular to drop bottom mine cars of the automatically trippedtype.

For a good many years-drop bottom mine-cars-have been built with thedoors tripped by means of .arrns e-xtending to the side of the car.These arms are extremely vulnerable to damage from "striking a trackside obstruction or by being run into the face in the mine. Also, thelatch arms have been damagedbycoal loading machinery, which is now usedextensively in substantially all mines. It is an object therefore of thepresentxinvention toprovide door latch operating mechanism carried bythe car in a position where it cannot be readily damaged.

A further object of theinvention is theprovisionof a drop bottom minecar having a latch operatorpart carried beneath 'the wingportions andfully protected by housings connected to the car. 7

A still further object of the inventionis :the provision of a dropbottom .mine car in which the latch control mechanism is protected,yetfully accessible forrcpair.

Another object of the invention istthe provision of latch controllingmechanism which can be, readily applied to existing cars with.anrninimumro'f modification and expense.

These and other objects. of. thertinvention, will be apparent to personsskilled in the 'artfromrastudyoffthe following description andaccompanying. drawings, fin which Fig. l is an elevational view ofsubstantially the rear half of the mine car;

Fig. 2 is an end view of slightly more than one-half the car;

*Fig. 3-is a bottom view of .theminecar; Fig. 4 is an end view similarto"Fig. 2, but showing 1 a "modification; and

Fig. '5 is-a'rside elevation similarntci-Fi'g. l, but showing "theconstruction of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawingswin'detailgitvwillibe seen that the minecaris supported onwheels W adapted to run on rails R. The wheels'throughtheir axles (not 'shown) support angular-shapedside*sills 2" extendinglongitudinal of the car and having their ends connected by end sills 4.The side and end sills enclose a space adapted to be closed by dropbottom doors 6 pivotally carried by the car and adapted to swingdownwardly between the rails to discharge the lading. As clearly shown,the side walls 8 extend outwardly and upwardly beyond the rails andterminate in a vertical portion 10. The side walls are connected attheir ends by end walls 12, which are also connected to the end sills 4.Gussets 14 connect the side sills and the side wing or side Walls 8 toprevent distortion or sagging of the side walls.

The rearmost door 6 is provided with a latch tongue casting 16 adaptedto be engaged by latch hook 18. As shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, thislatch hook is pivoted, as at 20, to the car and is adapted to be movedout of engagement with the latch tongue to drop the door for icedischarge of lading. Pull rod 22 is connected to the latch hook andextends upwardly and outwardly for pivotal connection to the lower endof abell crank 24 pivoted to thelcar end .wall, as at26. The second arm28 of the bell crank extends outwardly. and downwardly for pivotalconnection to a push rod 30 extending downwardly through the side wallsfor connection to the rear end of a treadle 32. :The forward end of thistreadle is pivoted, as'at 34,-.tothe car structure on'a substantiallyhorizontal -axis,:thus permitting the treadle to move in a verticaldirection. .Since the belIHcrank 28 is positioned withinthe.:c.ar.zat;the rear corner, a housing 36 is welded or otherwisesecured to the end wall and side wall, As clearly shown in-Fig. 2, a Zbar-3,8 is welded or otherwise secured beneath the sidewall 8 and ispositionedwitn-its web horizontal1 and the outerflange 40 directedvertically upward for attachment to the side ,wall. The, depending innerflange ;42 is preferably welded or other wise secured to the outer endsof gusset 14. This Z bar serves as a stiffener for the side walloutwardly oi the rails, .andtalso serves as a trackway for the trippingmechanism 'later to. be described. In order to protect the treadle32-against damage :or accidental tripping, an-outer protecting plate 44-is welded or otherwise secured to the rear .end of the 2 bar, thus;placing the treadle in effect within a channel-shaped portion.

order to trip the latch through moving the treadle, specialtrackwayequipment-generally indicated at T is provided. ,This tripping equipmentgenerally consists of an .upwardly -open- U,-shaped"base housing 46pivotally connected to the :track side structure, as at 48. The sides ofthe base member are, pierced to receive bolts or other means 50extending. through slots of spaced side mem- 'bers: 52. The.side.,members .52 are joined together by .58, bearing ,on ,the basemember and the webbingof-the ,top member,.constantly urge the,.rollerupwardly-and in guided ,into contact with, treadle, 32. .thatflthetreadle 32, is vprotected against damage or accidental tripping,.randconnotbemoved exceptby a narrow jpos'it'ion rtoycontact and .roll...along .the horizontal web of. the 2 bar. The. springsare of .suflicientstrength as to .foricefltreadle 32 upwardly, therebypulling the latch 18outof engagement withdoor latchtongue 16.

From ,thepreceding it is seen .that the caris provided .with theoutwardly;projecting .side wings or side walls .sti'lfened by. thelongitudinally extendingZ bar. This 2 bar serves .notonlyas a.stifteningmember, but also asja ,tr ackwaylalong which rol-ler-56- maymove and be 1 It will also be seen object projecting upwardly into thechannel-like .endportion, ofthe stilfening member.

.Referringlnow to Figs. 4 .and 5,,wherein like referencenurnerals-havehecn applied to like par-ts, itwill be seen ,Jthatlthelatch 'hook 11'8 .is,connected to a latch arm n6ll pivoted, as at62, 'tothe end wall and having an extension urged upwardly by spring 64, thuskeeping the latch engaged with the door. The latch arm 60 whichcorresponds to the conventional latch arm of present cars has its endcut off adjacent the side of the car and is pivotally connected to thelower end of pull rod 66, the upper end of this rod being pivotallyconnected to inturned end 68 of a rock shaft 70, which corresponds infunction to the pivot or rock shaft 26. As clearly shown, the rock shaft'70 extends longitudinally of the car and preferably to a point forwardof one of the supporting wheels. Adjacent this wheel the rock shaft isprovided with a downwardly directed crank end 72 adapted to bear upon atreadle 74. As clearly shown, this treadle is pivoted to the car, as at76, and extends downwardly through a slot in the web 78 of a 2 barshaped stiffener. This Z bar stilfener is 3 attached to the car beneaththe side wing portions and may extend from end to end of the car butpreferably spans the space between adjacent gusset 14, to which it isrigidly attached. A protecting plate 80 is welded or otherwise securedto the Z bar, thereby forming a housing and trackway protecting thetreadle 72 and providing a guide surface along the tripping roller 56which may move to release the door for opening. Upward movement oftreadle 74 will cause a clockwise rotation of rock shaft 70, therebylifting the outer end of latch arm 60 and releasing the door fordropping. From the preceding it will be seen that the stilfening memberand trackway member, together with the rock shaft and connection 66, maybe fabricated as a unit and applied to existing cars by merely cuttingoff the end of the latch arm and applying the stiflener and rock shaftmembers to the overhanging side walls of the car.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail withspecific reference to the drawings, it will be obvious that variousmodifications and rearrangements of parts other than those shown anddescribed may be made without departing from the scope of the inventionas defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a wheel carried drop bottom mine car having side sill membersbetween the wheels and lading retaining side walls projecting outwardlytherefrom, gussets connected to said side sills and side walls, a Z barside wall stiffener extending longitudinally of the car and secured toat least one of said side walls beneath the same and connected to atleast two of said gussets, a drop bottom door hingedly carried by thecar, a latch assembly carried by the car and including a part adjacentan end thereof mounted for movement relative to the car and normallyengaging the door to retain the same in raised position, said latchassembly also including an operator part carried by said Z bar adjacentthe wheels on the same side of the car, and also means operativelyconnected to said first named part and operator part and movable torelease the door for opening.

2. In a wheel carried drop bottom mine car having side sill members andlading retaining side walls projecting outwardly therefrom, gussetsconnected to said side sills and side walls, a longitudinally extendingZ bar side wall stiffener secured to at least one of said side wallsbeneath the same and connected to at least two of said gussets, a dropbottom door hingedly carried by the car, a latch assembly carried by thecar and including, a latch hook mounted adjacent the rear end of the carfor movement relative to the car and normally engaging the door toretain the same in raised position, a treadle pivotally mounted on saidZ bar forwardly of a wheel on the same side of the car for verticalmovement relative thereto, and means connecting said treadle and latchhook for joint operation.

3. In a wheel carried drop bottom mine car having side sill members andlading retaining side walls projecting outwardly therefrom, gussetsconnected to said side sills and side walls, a longitudinally extendingZ bar side wall stiffener secured to at least one of said side wallsbeneath the same and connected to at least two of said gussets, a dropbottom door hingedly carried by the car, a latch assembly carried by thecar and including, a latch hook mounted adjacent the rear end of the carfor movement relative to the car and normally engaging the door toretain the same in raised position, a treadle pivotally mounted on said2 bar adjacent the wheels on that side of the car for vertical movementrelative thereto, a rock shaft extending longitudinally of the caradjacent said 2 bar and having bearing engagement on said treadle, andmeans connecting said latch hook and rock shaft.

4. In a wheel carried drop bottom mine car having side sill members andlading retaining side walls projecting outwardly therefrom, gussetsconnected to said side sills and side walls, a longitudinally extendingZ bar side wall stiffener secured to at least one of said side wallsbeneath the same and connected to certain of said gussets, a drop bottomdoor hingedly carried by the car, a latch hook pivotally carried by thecar and normally engaging the door to retain the same in raisedposition, a rock shaft extending longitudinally of the car beneath oneof said side walls and formed with cranked ends, means connecting one ofsaid cranked ends to said latch hook, a treadle pivotally carried bysaid car beneath said one side wall for upward movement relative theretoand adapted to contact said other cranked end.

5. In a wheel carried drop bottom mine car having side sill members andlading retaining side walls projecting outwardly therefrom, gussetsconnected to said side sills and side walls, a longitudinally extendingZ bar side wall stiffener secured to at least one of said side wallsbeneath the same and connected to certain of said gussets, a drop bottomdoor hingedly carried by the car, a latch hook pivotally carried by thecar and normally engaging the door to retain the same in raisedposition, a rock shaft extending longitudinally of the car beneath oneof said side walls and formed with cranked ends, means connecting one ofsaid cranked ends to said latch hook, a treadle pivotally carried bysaid car beneath said one side wall for upward movement relative theretoand adapted to contact said other cranked end, and a housing connectedto and depending from said one side wall to protect said treadle fromaccidental movement, said housing acting as a guide for treadle movingmeans mounted independent of the car.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,370,998 Schroeder Mar. 6, 1945 2,451,406 Pancake Oct. 12, 19482,458,738 Sanford Jan. 11, 1949 2,548,395 Sanford Apr. 10, 19512,645,368 Sanford July 14, 1953 2,686,605 Kepner Aug. 17, 1954 FOREIGNPATENTS 192,964 Great Britain Feb. 15, 1923

